Most adults have small, tender, damaged areas inside muscles called trigger points. They are the size of a pencil eraser and feel like a knot when you press on them. They can be in any muscle, including the neck, jaw, back, shoulder, hip, arm and leg muscles. Trigger points are caused by injury or overusing a muscle.

A doctor performs trigger point injections by injecting into the trigger point. The fluid injected can be sterile saline, lidocaine, steroid or herbal anti-inflammatory such as Trameel. Trigger points have scar tissue inside them that prevents healthy blood flow. The fluid breaks up the knot so that the muscle will relax and normal blood flow can return to the area. Often, the patient will feel a muscle ‘release’ as when the knot is injected.

Trigger point injections are safe and often covered by insurance. They can provide significant relief for many pain syndromes. In our clinic, we also perform trigger point release with pressure or “dry needling” in which we needle the trigger point to release the knot, but do not inject fluid.